ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods says the US oil giant experienced an upside over the course of 2018 and is preparing to invest $4 billion of additional Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) from 2019 to 2025 in Guyana and other areas like the Permian Basin.
Speaking in a televised interview on CNBC on March 7, 2019, Woods said with the additional CAPEX comes an additional $40 billion of net present value over that same time frame, $9 billion of cumulative earnings over that time frame and $24 billion of cumulative cash flow over that same period.
When asked where the additional Capex will be invested he said, “Guyana… which is deepwater and the Permian Basin….”
He noted that there have been two discoveries this year in Guyana, following on the heels of five for 2018. So far ExxonMobil and their joint venture partners HESS and CNOOC Nexen, have had a total of 12 discoveries and only two dry holes since May 2015.
He pointed out that because of the depletive nature of the oil business it is important that investments that are made have very good returns. He said that in 2014 a lot of companies scaled back on investment and this is when ExxonMobil “leaned in and found opportunities which are now seeing results.”
So far, ExxonMobil and its partners have estimated the recoverable resources discovered in Guyana’s Stabroek Block to be over 5.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The Permian Basin’s resources are estimated to be twice the size of the Stabroek Block, said to be some 10 billion barrels. The Permian Basin will be producing at a rate of one million barrels per day compared to a graduated 750,000 barrels per day by 2025.
